The Bible is the main religious book for all Christians. It has become in many ways fundamental to modern Western civilization. But in order to understand the specifics of this text, you need to know the history of its creation.
Old Testament
The main part of the Old Testament - the Pentateuch of Moses - is considered the most ancient part of the Bible. Before the Age of Enlightenment, the inspired prophet Moses was considered the author of this text. However, in the 18th century, scholars began to have doubts about the immutability of the Bible over the centuries. It was hypothesized that the Pentateuch was compiled from two sources. As evidence, they cited information that different names of God can be found in different books of the Pentateuch. This second hypothesis was called documentary.
The Pentateuch of Moses is revered not only in Christianity, but also in Judaism and Islam.
In the 20th century, biblical scholars advanced a new theory that the four books of the Pentateuch were compiled from three texts, while Deuteronomy was written by a separate author. It is not possible to establish the exact names of the authors of the texts, but scholars attribute the unification of the three sources of the first four books to the 8th century. BC. Later, Deuteronomy also became part of the Pentateuch.
The book of the prophet Isaiah, most likely, was also compiled by a group of authors, and in several stages. Most likely, the first 55 chapters of the book were written during the Babylonian captivity, and the remaining text was written after it by a group of unknown authors.
The origin of the book of the prophet Ezekiel most likely corresponds to the canonical interpretation - its author could well have been Ezekiel Ben-Buzi, who lived in the 6th century. BC. Also, most likely, this text, after writing, was repeatedly edited by scribes.
The most recent text of the Old Testament is most likely the book of the prophet Daniel. Presumably, it was created in the 2nd century BC. by an anonymous author.
New Testament
In addition to the four Gospels included in the canon, there were other similar texts - the Apocrypha, which were not included in the final version of the New Testament.
According to the Christian interpretation, the authors of the books of the New Testament were the evangelists Mark, John, Luke and Matthew. However, modern scientists dispute this data. The Gospel of Matthew was most likely composed in the last third of the 1st century AD. The author was one of the first Christians who, presumably, was not a witness to the events described in the text. The authorship of the apostle John is also disputed. The authorship of the evangelist Luke is recognized as possible, but scholars dispute his traditional biography - most likely, he was not a close associate of the Apostle Paul. The Gospel of Mark could have been the earliest and, accordingly, become a source for other books of the New Testament.
